Black Tuesday for jobs

The loss of thousands of highly-paid London jobs is being announced today.

The "Black Tuesday" round of redundancies comes as the BBC and investment bank Credit Suisse First Boston (CSFB) unveil huge cost-cutting programmes.

The job losses, totalling 7,000, are likely to further depress the stagnant property market, particularly in west London where many BBC and CSFB staff live. At the BBC, Director-General Mark Thompson will announce that 2,900 jobs will be axed at the BBC's 6,000-strong professional services division.

As part of a major overhaul, entire departments will be moved out of London. As many as 3,500 more jobs could go from areas including news and factual programming over the coming months.

Meanwhile, at CSFB, banking chiefs are announcing a reorganisation that insiders say will see 300 redundancies made worldwide.

City sources expect the job losses to be concentrated in so called "back office" roles such as IT.